BRING IT ON!

What do you expect from tonight? Will we estacionar el autobus? Will we start gung-ho, try to score early and then work on the counter, or try to play keepball and settle slowly? Or do you expect Barcelona to blow us away early and give us a lesson?

All my non-Arsenal friends are predicting that Arsenal will get a hammering tonight and that we were fortunate to win at the Grove. To them I say “ Pish Tosh and a bottle of Pinosh”. Beating Barca was one of the great Arsenal performances and I see no reason why we cannot progress at the Camp Nou.

I have read the suggestion that we would be better off losing tonight; that we cannot win the CL because there are too many English teams in it and it is less shameful to lose to Barca than, say Chelsea. Again I say “pish”. We have beaten the Chavs on aggregate this season, thrown away a win against Spurs and were unlucky at Old Trafford. We are better than Bayern. In fact, the only fear I have is Real. We can win this Cup.

But first we have to get a result tonight ….

One of the key questions to be answered tonight will be which team is most affected by their missing players? Will we be able to take advantage of the absence of Piquet and Puyol without our most effective strike force? How damaging will be the loss of Song? (he is 50/50 as I write, and I am assuming he will not be risked.)

Should Song be out, who should take his place as our defensive shield? In a perfect world it would be Ramsey or even better, a fit Vermaelen. As it is AW has to decide between Denilson, Diaby and Rosicky. I expect Mr Wenger to take a safety first stance and play Denilson, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Rosicky get a start in place of Nasri or Arshavin. AW must have been hoping for more from Diaby, who would be ideal if he could just play with more intelligence. Diaby is without question the most frustrating member of the squad; tonight should be a night where he showcases his huge talent but I doubt he can be trusted in so important a fixture.

Wilshere established himself as the coming man at the Grove – I hope he can keep his cool at Camp Nou. His booking for what appeared to be dissent on Saturday was a worry and hopefully not a portent of a young man developing arrogance. Self confidence is an absolute in a player of JW’s undoubted skills, but the glare of the media on one so young can turn heads. I hope AW can keep him grounded. One thing for sure is that Barca will not take him so lightly again.

Our defence is solid at the moment and I am delighted to see Sagna return (though Eboue did well in the first game). This is the best back 4 we have had for 5 years; youth, experience, physical power and ability on the ball. Have we ever seen our CB’s propel the team as we saw JD and Kos do on Saturday?

Upfront we have problems. RvP is in the squad, but is unlikely to start. In his absence and on the evidence of Saturday, I would play Chamakh as a lone striker. I love Nik but it appears he requires more time than the Barca defence will allow him (though he has scored at Camp Nou). Chamakh has been publicly praised by AW and I expect him to start. The news has just been released that RvP is travelling with the squad – I wouldn’t risk him, but what a sub! With 20 minutes to go at the end of a tight game, Robin could make a huge impact.

Our most important players? Fabregas and Szczesny. Fab will be so excited about tonight, the opportunity to show his wonderful talents in his home town stadium. He will control the tempo of our game. What a night for our 20 y.o. GK. To play at his age in what is the glamour tie in World football is unimaginable. He seems to be unflappable which he will need to be. There is no question that he will be by far the busier keeper and should he perform to his highest ability we have a chance. If he freezes, we are sunk.

My team:

My fear is that should we be 2 down at any time in the game we haven’t the weapons to get back into the game. Without RvP in the starting line-up we lack bite – we need a big night from Nasri and Fabregas. If we score (and have the luck) we will win.

Barcelona is home to many interesting chaps. Picasso, Dali, Jean Miro`, Gaudi, Jose Carreras, Montserat Caballe`, Pablo Casals, Victoria de los Angeles among others, but does not appear to have any proper Rockers. Perhaps it is a weather thing?

Will I be nervous tonight? Will I be envious of Brigham who is at the game tonight? What do you think?

Cheers for the post BigRaddy. In response to your question about what I expect- I expect Barcelona to start quickly and perhaps score an early goal. I expect heroics in midfield and defence and a strong push to equalize in the last 15-20 spearheaded by the Boy Wonder coming off the bench. Either that or an early Arsenal goal and 70 minutes of trying to restrain a tsunami of Barcelona attacks. I don’t think we can win the match- to beat Barcelona home and away would be “to dream the impossible dream” but a score draw or even at 3-2 loss would be perfect and won’t see any complaint from me!
As Harry mentioned earlier today- the boss has some extremely difficult choices to make about Robin, Cesc and “who to play in the Song role”- and I wouldn’t like to be in his shoes. Therefore, we have to back whatever he decides on as they are choices that cannot be taken lightly.
With regard to rockers Raddy- Barcelona has a fine local scene of Spanish metal and hard rock which I experienced whilst living there. Due to singing in Spanish and sometimes Catalan they don’t get much exposure outside Spain. Manu Chao calls Barcelona his home even though I believe he is not Spanish.

Was thinking myself that on Saturday we lacked any real threat on the bench to bring on for last twenty minutes or so. Leaving Arsh and RvP on the bench will definitely give Barca something to concern them in the closing stages.

To answer your question re CBs I’d say not since Sol have we had a defender confident to add numbers to the attack.

My only question is Gibbs?

I would start Deni, but I would consider making him man mark Messi, just to be close when he is about to receive the ball or to prevent him receiving the ball could be vital in our efforts. He will need help whenever the ball makes it close, live Jack and Cesc to deal with Xavi and Iniesta.

On Jacks temperament it is one area I have read Liam Brady had to do a lot of work, prone to retaliation in his youth they have tried hard to reduce his flare ups. I have read as a youngster he would also be in tears if his teammates did not play to his high standards, again you sometimes see his frustration at others around him when they fail to play the right ball or connect with his passes.

I have to disagree with your team selection and your pediction of if we go 2 goals down we have not got the weapons. We only have to score to level the tie so than it’s still game on.Also clichy will play instead of gibbs and rosicky should be grateful for a place on the bench hopefully sitting next to denilson we can not afford to have passengers tonight with them 2 in the side. My heart says yes we can do it but the head says different so let’s keep everything crossed.

Good morning all gooner fans.
There is no reason why Arsenal can’t get a result ie a win or even a draw.To get the result all gunners must concentrate 100% repeat 100%. Please don’t be dazzled by Messi’s intricate dribble and watch him pass one gunner after en route to goal.
The thing if the gunners surround him ,for all his skills he is unlikely to escape the cordon unless he is Houdini. Then we shall see whether he is unplayable.
Those who watched Wolves beat MU will know it can be done. Admittedly Messsi is a much better player all round than Rooney. But the Wolves managed to surround Rooney to make sure he doesn’t have time space to shoot.Then he was effectively rendered ineffective.
The same thing should be done to Messi. No matter how great a player he must have time and space. Deprive him of these two he is rendered 70% ineffective.
Good luck to the gunners . I believe the gunners can score first and niclk a 2-2 draw.

GiE- Can’t agree with you having Denilson marking Messi- he’s struggled to be goalside of attacking “threats” from Leeds, Ipswich and Orient at times this season- zero chance of keeping Messi in his pocket.

BR very well written post. For the first time this season I have no real pull in either direction with regards to the result tonight. Which I hope means we will draw. Frankly I dont care who plays or how we perform, as long as we go through

Denilson is my least favorite player on the squad but in my mind he fits for this game maybe even better than Song. Anybody remember how off pace Song looked v Barca at the Emirates? He could’ve been handed a second yellow about 3 or 4 times in that game. Also Denilson played well in this fixture last season.

Adrian- I hope we don’t try and crowd messi out as you suggest- he’s proven very adept at working tight spaces. JD and Kozzer would be better served being able to see what the little wizard is attempting in my opinion. Rendering him 70% ineffective is ineffective enough in my book! Both he a villa are great at playing off the shoulder of the defence. To stop them we need to cut off the supply which normally means busquets xavi and iniesta. With busquets dropping to CB they’ll have mascerano in his position so there’ll be a good deal more attrition in midfield this time around.

Am feeling surprisingly serene about tonight – if we lose, c’est la vie, this season’s all about the PL, but if we win……..!

I agree that Denilson should get the nod ahead of the ponderous Diaby but feel we should start with Arshavin, who’s rediscovered form, and Bendtner. Both Chamakh and Rosicky, while improving, aren’t back to their best.

I think width will be really important tonight, and in that sense feel we’ll miss Walcott as much as Song. The real advantage we’ve got tonight is Barca’s underbelly – they’ll have to play Abidal with either Milito or Busquests at CB, and that will hurt them, given the importance of the CBs allowing the FBs to push on and play like midfielders most of the time. If we can get at them on the flanks often enough, Maxwell and Alves will be forced back, making the midfield contest much more even.

Despite my optimistic tendencies, my head says the score will be something like 3-1 to them, but we could do it tonight.

Following my thought about the combative and tight nature of the midfield tonight- I believe that Nasri could be our key man as the player best suited to working a decent chance out of a tight spot. We also need to play high up and use the width to strech the midfield. This really is a thinking man’s game n’est pas? It’s making me think a lot anyway! :-)

Morning all,
I think we are spoiled with getting such stylish and intelligent match previews from Radders on a regular basis – well done sir.
Some 7 hours to go and of course I’m starting to cack myself but I am slightly surprised at Clichy being omitted, is that because he may be the weak link in defence?
It’s true that Sunderland did target his side of the defence on Saturday yet I feel he has big game experience.
The loss of Song is not going to be felt as keenly as it could have done if we were playing a very physical midfield however if Diaby has a good game we will be fine
Thanks for the good wishes, my shoulder is a bit better and I’m sorry to have missed Rocky’s excellent post on the Govan Gobshite.

Oops, I see my comments about Gibbs/Clichy are now redundant.
I don’t know of many Rockers in the latin countries either, I’ve only heard of Sepultura(from Brazil), I can only think that metal is suited to temperate/cold climates

Great post Raddy, sums it up perfectly a mixture of hope and trepidation.

Walcott is the player we will miss most as I believe we will need to break quickly on them to score the one or two goals we will probably need and the game would have been perfect for him. In which case we need to play Arshavin to give us the pace. A repeat of his 4 goal performance at Liverpool will do very nicely.

Chary- Mascherano (combative midfield). On the subject of rockers- the only group I remember the name of is called Extremaduro- “Extremely hard” a play on words from the region of Spain (Extremadura). I believe they are pretty popular. They also go in for a lot of pogo punk in Catalunia…

Carlito, the Masher being picked in midfield hinges on whether they stick Biscuits back in defence or they use Miliito with Abidal as the centre back pairing(as opposed to Abidal and Biscuits)
From what I hear Barca fans don’t rate Nillito, so you could be right that they will have a midfield of Iniesta, Masher, Xavi with Messi, Villa and Pedro up top.
I know there are various tribute bands all over but interesting about Catalans liking punk – perhaps they are playing the anarchists to the establishment of Madrid/Rest of Spain ?

Chary- Anarchism has strong political roots in Catalunia- there are still aspects of it visible in the culture there. I got a dressing down from an 80 year old lady for calling her “usted” which is the polite form to address elders! She told me her generation had fought to get rid of these hierarchical terms (which she associated with Spanish tradition) and that I should address her as “tu”. Of course there were many older people who would have been upset if I followed her advice!

An interesting linguistic sidenote- Old English had equivalents to the “tu” and “usted” forms but only one remains, the modern “you”. This is derived from the more formal and respectful “thou” and the more familiar and informal “thee” disappeared from everyday use (in the south). Says a lot about our class-obsessed forebears I suppose. The opposite was attempted by the Catalans until Franco took over…

There’s no pleasing some people is there Carlito ? You just can’t tell what’s the right thing to say at times.
I guess it all stems from their regionalist/nationalist tendencies I suppose, the need to differentiate themselves from anything connected to Franco et al.

I’d play Arsh and Bendy in place of Rosicky and Chamakh. I think Rosicky is still struggling for form whereas AA is getting close to his best – would Thomas have scored the 2nd against Barca, I think not.

I understand why Raddy goes for Chamakh but I think Bendy’s belief and arrogance compared to Chamakh’s current state of mind gives the Dane the edge.

I am surprised at the comments re Jack. I like Guardiola and thought he was above such things. He has basically said that our best player from the first leg (which we won) was only good enough for their B team. I hope Cesc equates that to his position were he a Barca player. An uncharacteristic lack of class from Guardiola – I hope he is more magnanimous after tonight’s game whatever the outcome.

I think Guardiola’s been misrepresented re Wilshere – he seemed to me to be saying it was a good thing that LJ’s been given a chance to develop, something that the youngsters in Barca B don’t get often enough. The English journos appear to have locked onto his reference to there being lots of talented youngsters and said that Guardiola was saying LJ was nothing special. At the beginning of the interview, Guardiola was heaping praise on LJ, saying he’d been impressive this season.

AS long as we do well if we go out we can concentrate on the league., If we win we’ll have so much confidence for the rest of the season. Sylvestre isn’t playing so messi won’t score so many this time.

I agree that having watched Guardiola’s interview he was saying that Jack is a real talent but such a young player would not get the chance in Barcelona’s A team due to the pressure to get results. I hate the meeja but if this creates a spark that inspires Jack to “be the man” tonight I won’t complain!

GM- what a relief that we don’t have that Manc Mole to rely on this year. No way I can see them winning by 3 tonight- imagine if the 90 mins end 2-1 to Barcelona! Bloody hell I can’t take the excitement!

I’d definitely start with Bendtner, if RVP’s not fit. Bendtner worked hard on his own on Saturday and got himself a couple of chances. He won’t be over awed by the game wheras Chamakh looks a bit out of sorts at the moment.

I think Song is the real blow tonight. Diaby is a bit too pondorous at times, although capable of a great contribution going forward. I’d favour Denilson to sit, taking on a covering role in a double pivot with Jack. Wilshere sits very deep for us so the two of them can combine and give the ball to Cesc and Nasri to cause problems going forward.

I think Barca will score but we must keep our heads and maintain a bit of perspective, a score draw would be fine.

Of course, I was in two minds regarding the team. The likelihood is that AW will start with Arshavin, but I went with Rosicky for his defensive ability – he loves a tackle and if we can hold them at bay for the first 20 minutes the pressure may tell on Barca.

My choice of Chamakh was to do with pace. Nik is a fine player but is ponderous and I imagine us scoring on the break through Nasri and Chamakh,

Like many I am ambivalent about the game at the moment, but come kick-off I will be nervous as hell.

Carlito. a 2-1 and extra time or even worse penalties would undoubtedly lead to a coronary!

Smith14- I’m with as far as Chamakh’s recent form goes until Sunderland when his introduction looked like breaking the dealock and the man himself looked back to his bright-eyed and bushy-tailed early season self. In truth, as I have said earlier, I would like them both to start and really push Barca back into their own half but that remains my own pressure-free wish and I doubt AW would make such a risky call- not sure I would in his shoes either!

People (including barca) are making so much of the second leg last year. Sylvestre was the reason for at least 2 of messi’s goals. We also had Cesc, TV and RVP out. This season we have a better defence, a better keeper and Fab is playing. And no sylvestre (surely on of Wengers biggest mistakes)

Great pre-match Raddy, set the scene nicely, lots of options to discuss and some big big decisions to be made by Le Prof…….

I have had butterflies since I got up this morning. It seems to be a volatile mixture of anticipation, nerves, excitement, panic, intertwined with a streak of calm inner belief that says, hell yes we can do it, but that belief is curbed by the realisation that I support The Arsenal and we don’t do things the easy way, so whatever happens it going to be a long night…….

In the cold light of the morning after, if we can truly say, we had a go, leave nothing in the tanks, empty the ammo store fully and just put our hands up if we do go out, then I can live with that. As far as we all do believe we are the Greatest team in the World, which I do personally believe and will never doubt in respect to the period of time since our inception, there again is a honest reality that says, currently Barca are the team to beat and favourites to go through and win the competition. Lets do ourselves proud and give them a game and see where we end, football is cyclic in its powerbases, can we start the end of Barca’s? and begin ours? Who knows, a bit of luck, rub of the green? And a few world class performances we can match them, fire with fire…….

Up front if Van Persie plays with Arshavin and perhaps B52 would you, ok I wont ask, agreed this is where we need to be mindful of what the task is that we are faced with…….Keep out Messi, Villa and Pedro and we can qualify, that I am sure of. Last year we were without 5 first teamers, this time only really 1 that we will truly miss for this match is Walcott.

Our time is nigh, it is tonight that we turn Wenger’s belief into tangible evidence to show the doubting public that we are truly can take on the best and we should be feared………………….

Whether we win or not, not sure, but I have a little sneaky feeling at the end of the night a certain player called Francesc Soler Fabregas will score a goal, which will be like a dagger driven deep into ones heart by a loved one……as it knocks out Barca……

As for the line up:

Chesney

Sags Koz Jd Gael

Wilshere Fabregas Nasri

Arshavin

Chamakh and B52

Bench: RVP, Squid, Eboue, Diaby, Rosicky, Denilson and Almunia. (Gibbs probably to miss out, not that I would agree with that.)

Great read BR I admire your touch.
I can however see no place for Thomas a man who seems to be past his best, Walcott is a huge loss, he would have been our breakout man when they were pressing, So Nasri will be in for that role, Will RPV play who knows? perhaps the last half hour if we are in with a shout. Whatever tonight for me is a game to be enjoyed without worry the PL and FA cup being more realistic targets as I suspect both Robin and Fab will be lucky to stay fit for so many high pressure games.
What price fab Needs an operation in the close season?
Re Denilson man marking Messi? poor man has no chance, watch Messi as he receives the ball always on the angle, never looks up having done that already, mark him too tight and he is turned and gone before the defender moves. So what to do defend in depth, jockey, tackle and pray :-)

The Gunners midfield should learn from Manure, and take turns cracking Messi on the left ankle, a la Scholes & Co, and get off with it because jack, Samir or Denilson only did it once each, a la the attack on Reyes, and in any case it’s not their fault they can’t tackle, poor things! :-)

Micky you’ve benn right up to now- been avoiding work like my life depended on it! But I now have to go teach a class and then get across town for job interview! Don’t give myself much chance of getting the job given my hyperactive and distracted state!

We need a quick goal to make them go all out on the offense, hopefully leaving holes for us to exploit, so I would start with RVP up front plus Arshavin and Nasri on the flanks.

If we need goals near the end that would be the time to bring on B52 – when Barca have tired legs.

The position that concerns me the most is the goalkeeper, not over who is selected but the fact that it’s invariably our goalie that lets us down the in big games. Hope I’m full of s**t but I am concerned.

I haven’t been able to read all the comments but I liked Kc’s suggestion that Denilson is probably better suited for tonight’s game. I believe he had a 100% pass rate on Saturday, this is exactly what we need: break up play and make sure you find a yellow shirt, preferably Fabregas.
Also, I do not believe for one minute that Guardiola said anything as rude as has been reported. He is no where near as good a manager as people make out but he is more intelligent than that.

The point was that when the holding midfielder he can be pulled out of position or caught in two minds, given ONE job I think he could do it. This would also reduce the need to double up going backwards by our left midfield.

We NEED an early goal, Barca will not stop attacking, as for them tonight the best form of defence is definitely attack attack attack.

We need to move the ball quickly it was hard enough at home to move the ball through the midfield it’ll be harder in Camp Nou so we must look to hit the front men early.

All this is asking AW to change his current philosophy to suit the opposition and I know that is a big ask.

Been keeping myself busy in my garden, and the time has flown by – look just under 4 hours to go, bet they’ll be the slowest ;)

Whilst I would love tonight to be the Cesc and Jack show I think that Jack is very very good at protecting the back four and I would have Cesc and Diaby in that three with Diaby pushing forward at every opportunity to join in the attack. Just saying.

Great pre-match BR
I’m super busy this morning but have cleared the decks for this afternoon to watch the game.

I would go with Den for the midfield role – playing Jack behind Den and Fab. Like many, I don’t hold Den in the highest regard these days but his tidy passing and quick movement of the ball make him ideal for this game. Cesc will lead the forward thrust, with Jack helping from deep. Den can keep things ticking over with accurate short passing and, when we don’t have the ball (which will be often), breaking up the Barca play.

Just heard Stewart Robson on Talk Sport (who surprisingly have been very encouraging today). He reckoned we need to bypass the midfield quickly and turn the defence, which I tend to agree with if we can hold the ball up once the first bit achieved, for that reason Wilshere will be key tonight, when getting the ball he is one of the few who can look for a longer pass, and then it will be up to whoever the more attacking players are to support the man in possession.

One massive thing in our favour compared to last year is that our goal in the Nou Camp changed nothing, Barca only ever needed to score one goal to put themselves through.

Therefore tonight they will hopefully worry more about conceding than last year.

I had the good fortune to visit the Nou Camp in 1999 for our CL game that year. One of the best experiences I’ve ever had. Its just a shame that the antics of some people who are synonymous with the club have diluted my affection for the city and the club itself. Its really hard to separate the two in my mind.

That night I went, the vitriol and abuse directed at Davor Suker just for warming up, let alone when he actually came on, was the worst I have ever witnessed in any football stadium. I might as well have been at the Ali Sami Yen in Istanbul !!

Please please please, if Diaby does play tonight let it be one of those rare occasions when he shows us all what AW sees in him and proves me wrong. I will quite happily eat my words and cheer his name as though he was my hero.

Hows this for a plan.? You leave them outside an off licence, and before too long they’ll get picked up and taken into foster care for the night. You then get them back tomorrow, and you’ve not even had to pay for a sitter.

Ps. Remember to wrap them up warm, and make sure its a busy off licence.

To be honest Radders, I’ve never actually tried it myself, I was just trying to be helpful. :-)

I’ve watched a few games on live-delay, and always resisted the urge to peek. The toughest game was Ipswich away, the urge to fast forward to a part where we played well was as strong as any urge I’ve ever known.

Radders, my trip to the Camp Nou was one of the best nights of my life. I got a ticket locally in the afternoon, and was sat amongst the Barca fans.

Just me on my todd, but what an atmosphere. The stadium was pretty impressive when I’d had a tour the day before, but to be in it when full for a CL game against my beloved…it was like I’d ‘dreamt the impossible dream’ whilst staying over at Jimmy Saville’s house, and Jimmy had made it come true.

I’ve tried watching a few games on delay, incredibly tough especially as it normally involves a car drive home which means i have the aded temptation of the radio, if its only 15 minutes or so its fine as i can forward through half time and catch up to real time.

I agree re the 15 mins GiE. I’ve also done it where its a full 1-2 hr delay. Mobile is handed to wife for safe keeping. NO RADIO on in the car, on ANY station. We get home and my 10 yr old has to go in and rewind the Sky+ to the kick off whilst I wait in the hallway.

Sometimes when we get to the final few minutes I just can’t watch and find excuses to leave the room, like the plants on the terrace need watering or I will top up my drink – anything to get away from the tension.

I guess it goes back to my childhood, Doctor Who and hiding behind the sofa!

Was it London who was suggesting building a bar behind his sofa? Great idea.

Happy with the team as long as AA comes on for Rosicky early second half. Harry I love that battlecry! SS- good luck with your offers- not sure I fancy this job but it took my mind off the game 90% for two hours so I thanked them for their time! :-)

Arsene needs to make early subs. The loss of Sz was crucial, he can only make one early sub (as if?) in case there is an injury. Cesc is not fit and RvP needs to calm down. Diaby’s foul should’ve been a penalty so the ref has evened up is bad decisions.

come on guys, there’s still 45 minutes left. get behind the team. Fabregas probably didn’t even know what he doing. Obviusly Arsene tactics is to try to not conceded on the first half. It didnt paid off, yes, and hopefully he can brings his masterstroke tactics again for the second half. and for all Arsenal fans, pray my friend, pray. Put all your hope in your hand and hopefully the God might hear one of our those prayer.

The players, please win. I really want to put my shit on the face of Barca fans behind me! Oh and on Alves face too!! F**#ing cheating dirty little bastard! Right now Barca officially replace Tiny Totts as the (put your dirtiest words here) team of all time!!

this is truly awful……..not at the races………cannot see any positives….
Jack and back 4 ok and nasri trying rest need to shape up……just gutted, just left pub to come home, hoping change of venue changes the alignment of planets and some cosmic rays liven up this team……

GIE. Why not just talk to RvP and ask? IMO it was a dreadful decision in such a high profile match – but maybe that is the point. This is a ref. who has to be in the spotlight. We have seen them before and we will see them again.

I said it immediately after the sending off and they have just confirmed that RvP shot 1 second after the whistle blew with 90,00 screaming fans in the background. We may not be able to make excuses but we can state facts, the referee got that completely wrong and it changed the complexion of the game

Sorry GIE, so so so wrong mate, yes he got a silly card in the 1st half, but that 2nd yellow has got to be one of the worse I have ever seen, I pay money to watch 11 v 11, not for some dope to brandish cards out like confetti…..90000screaming out, it is hard to hear, split second, that was not purposely kicking the ball away…

Right in short:

1. Barca were exceptional, granted and over 2 legs deserved it for possession stats alone.
2. Jack gets my MotM.
3. Almunia gets a thumbs up for a great display….
4. Why oh why did nik have the touch of an elephant at the moment of true hero esq proportions…so close to 3-2…..
5. Team did well with 10men and deserve some credit, albeit Barca had a amazing workrate, especially when they lost the ball….
6. When RVP went off, we were at 1-1………..

Just gutted, such a shame to lose that way….

Think I will hide under my quilt for a few days, before I get so angry………

The key thing that I had to wait for the pst mth re-runs for was….where was the ref when he blew.

He’s about 10-15 yds into OUR half when Fabregas plays the pass, which leaves me guessing that he’s blowing across a distance of about 60yds from him to the Boy Wonder. Abidal continues to play, as does Valdes, as does RVP. No one stopped.

Out on an injustice isn’t the worst overall result for me, and it DOES NOT diminish that wonderful night at the Emirates three weeks ago

And it was definitley not a penalty. Koscielny’s foot was planted before the attacker fell over him. As such it is no penalty. But I told my mate that the ref was sure to give Barca a pen at some point in the game after Sagna got booked for nothing.

I just said to Wonderman on the phone that we really have to give thanks to Almunia. He did us proud tonight. Funny thing is that he came on and I thought, well its not like Sz has had any work to do so far. Almunia then had to make save after save after save.

I can barely bring myself to comment but even Manchester United and Tottenham fans are calling into Irish media saying it is one of the worst sending offs they have ever seen – you then know its wrong.

A Chelsea friend of mine have pointed out the sendings off given in favour of Barcelona in recent seasons during the knock out stage for next to nothing – is it all coincidence?

The worst moment of the whole night for me was around 92.5 mins. We win a free kick just inside our half, out by the sideline.

Cue the set up of our last alamo like attack. Djourou, Kozzer and Diaby, all join Nik B in the box, and its brown pants time for 90,000 Catalans, who know that a high ball into the box is coming, and they only have two players over 5ft 9 in the side to help defend it.

Whaddya mean it was passed short quickly to Wilshere who then knocked it forward whilst Dj Koz and Diaby were all 30-50 yds from the opposition penalty..??

SS – and right IN FRONT of the referee would happened not to see it, quelle surprise.

I despise the way Barcelona do everything to get the opposition sent off. As great a team they are, they are a stain on football and are nothing to aspire too. They play football the right way, but not in the right spirit.

If Van Persie heard the whistle he is a silly boy if he didn’t the ref is bad person, am I allowed to say cunt I can’t remember, either way Van Persie is the only one who knows the rest of us are just guessing.

Jack in the 80th minute some how finds the energy to surge down the right wing before amazingly sliding an inch perfect ball across for the on rushing Bendtner to hit home first time and seal the victory……….

London, that was a crappy red card either way. The ref basically changed the game over a big nothing. That after carding three of our players very softly and allowing Alves to get away with a nasty foul. I actually suspect corruption, but maybe he was just shit…and nursed shot at that. No way RVP deserved to be sent off. He stays on and maybe we’re through, Barca dominance and all.

First things first: the current Barca team is the greatest team, bar none, that has played in my lifetime. Better than the Brazil of Socrates, the Ajax of Cruyff, the Argentina of Maradona, the Milan of van Basten and the Barca of 2006. In fact, they’re better than the Barca that beat us last season. We just have to acknowledge genius when we see it, and tonight we saw it. This is a side that will be discussed for years to come, and to be honest, I don’t even think they were playing at the top of their game tonight. And to think we managed to beat them in the first leg.

We have a very, very good team, and in my opinion we are the best in England. But let’s not delude ourselves, we are just miles behind this Barca side. And frankly, that isn’t shameful; there is simply no other side that comes close to Barca. The only way this Barca side can fail in a particular game is if they screw things up themselves, they’re unlucky or if they face an utterly destructive side (e.g. Inter under Mourinho) at the very, very top of its game.

It was still galling tonight of course, especially to see the degree to which we were outplayed and the role of one of the stupidest refereeing decisions any of us will have seen for a long time. And christ knows, we’ve seen some bad ones. Who knows, perhaps van Perise did hear the whistle, but as others have said, how can the referee be sure? A really poor decision.

And if you look at the game, he only had three big decisions to make and got two of them wrong: the second yellow to van Persie and the failure to give Messi a penalty when Diaby took him out on the edge of the area. The only big one he got right was awarding them the penalty for their third, a nailed on pen. I often say the refereeing we see on CL nights is superior to that in the PL; not tonight.

But I reject any suggestion that the van Persie decision cost us the tie – it denied us a reasonable shout at getting back in, but we had zero attmpts on goal before van Persie was sent off, we were already being caned. I don’t believe we have had a game under Wenger before where we have not had a single attempt on goal; that is a shocking, sobering fact, but one that says much more about them than us.

A word for our man of the match: Manuel Almunia was just fantastic. His best two games in the past year have been against Barca, home last year and away this year. He’s not good enough or consistent enough to be our first choice keeper, but for all those numpties amongst the Arsenal fans who have abused and disrespected, watch Almunia’s performance tonight and hang your heads in shame, were it not for him, we would be facing up to Spurs, United and Chelsea fans having lost by 4, 5 or 6 goals. Just think back to that Barca vs Real Madrid game; we didn’t lose 5-0 the way probably the best Real side for a long time did.

All the defenders plus Wilshere played fantastically as well. Of the remainder, I thought Nasri, Diaby and Rosicky were ok. What can one say about Cesc? He was just invisible. It must have been galling for him. Van Persie had a Mission Impossible task and was so far from the play most of the time, I find it impossible to judge his performance.

A disappointing, but not surprising, result. I even managed to predict the score correctly, not that that took a huge degree of insight. But fret not my AA chums, this season was never about the CL, we are on our way up, in the way Barca were 6 or 7 years ago. We saw tonight an illustration of where we can get if we continue.

One word on a very minor issue: the TV coverage was rubbish tonight, so many cut aways when we just wanted to follow the action. Very annoying.

West Brom away on the 19th, that’s our most important fixture this month. And if we want silver linings, this really does help with our run-in – it frees up some midweeks periods, especially immediately before what could well be the title decider, Man U at home on 1 May.

I’m sorry to disagree but this barca side didn’t look that good until Robim went off. Cesc may as well have worn a barca shirt. At 3- 1 bendy could have put us through. What if that had been Robin with that chance? We didn’t deserve to go through. I hope those wankers don’t win it.

I have to disagree regarding Barca’s brilliance. They completely dominated possession, but then our guys seemed content to let that happen. They really had no bite until the first goal… and then the sending off meant we were always going to be chasing the game. I’m not saying we win the tie if RVP stays on, but we definitely had a real fighting chance. The decision to send him off was really shocking.

barcelona need to score 3 goals to go thru against a hard working, well orgainised unit. The easiest way & best way is for the ref to send an Arsenal player off for trying to score. What a FLICKING joke that comp is :lol:

You can see why barca do so well in it. They get the run of the green, & when things don’t go their way they get a helping hand.

Anyway, I’m not all that fussed about the CL. Now the boyz need to keep their peckers up & win the BIG ONE.

Its time to really dig deep & win the PL, the one that matters. Mind u the Double would be doing it in true Arsenal style, chammmmoneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

1 Barca’s “defensive attacking” play was superb, they prevented us putting any passes together by hunting immediately and in packs.
2 As a defensive performance it was one of the best I have seen for years from Arsenal built around Big Al who was a hero.
3 Clichy was forced inside consistently to help man the trenches, thus allowing Barca to keep a man out wide for a get out pass, not then a bad Clichy decision but a necessity.
4 All round we were outclassed by the best team in the world,
5 The Ref was as bad as it gets.
6 AA ers are to be congratulated for their reasoned and generous acceptance of fine Barca performance
7 Gooner Michael of course is not included in 6.
8 Well done Arsene on letting the ref know he does see some things.
9 lets now hope we are able to muster a team and a performance on the weekend that can do themselves justice.

I’ll start with an apology re RvP, it seems popular opinion and most experts are with him on this one. I will explain my reaction. As he took the shot I was worried I shouted at the TV not to do it, I had heard the whistle on my speakers and immediately when he struck the shot I feared the second yellow.

I’m still annoyed that Cesc and RvP started when clearly not fit.

I’m still amazed by Wilshere who at 19 plays with the head of a 30 year old and is unbelievably courageous.

Kozzer and Djourou had good games, Sagna and Clichy did as well as could be expected in the face of two wingers and full backs that never stop going forward and Almunia had a blinder.

The ref was handing out yellows to us the same as PL refs do, and not giving fouls against us, but he also could have given Barca a pen in the first half for Diabys trip. The second yellow for RvP was harsh, I’m pretty sure the Barca players asked for it. The penalty looked like he gave a goalkick until Xavi protests and his hand starter pointing at the spot (in fairness Kozzer knew).

The League and FA Cup Double is what we can concentrate on now, and is very much achievable.

DD. Perhaps in the heat of the moment I was harsh on Clichy, as you say the defence played exceptionally well

26. I disagree totally about it being a nailed on penalty. Danish TV did a slo-mo on it and Kos got there first. The Danish commentators all said they understood why it was given but that had the referee the advantage of similar technology he would not have given the penalty. But this is the old video tech argument :-)

I have just heard the radio interview with Arsene. He is fantastic. After such a defeat he found ways to describe the ineptitude f the ref. without recourse to abuse. Could any other manager have done the same?

Arsene felt that without the sending off we would have gone on to win the game, stating that his tactics were based upon Barca tiring. We will never know if he would have been correct, but Arsene Knows…..

Any team that manages to beat a full strength Barca over 2 legs will deserve to win the CL. I am still in awe of their performance. Even against 10 men it is rare to see a football team dominate like that.

Clearly Arsene had a game plan to soak up in the first half and then attack them second half. Just seen player post match interviews with Jack, JD and Bac, they were dignified in their responses, what is it about a team resembling their manager? Mightily impressed and proud.

Unfortunately yet again we are left this morning playing the what if, and if only game.

Morning all- somehow hurting more this morning than last night. Boy, we were outplayed weren’t we?! Lots of positives from a defensive point of view though and big al must have won over some doubters which is crucial given he’ll get a run of games now.
Here is a stat from the Swiss Ramble website which is unbiased and has a reputation for identifying “irregularities” in the game:
“Arsenal were well beaten last night, so let’s not blame ref too much, but Spanish teams do well when Busacca is in charge: P30 W23 D7 L0.”
interesting eh?

GiE I also had a moment of concern when RVP took the shot on, but dismissed it as being OK, as he took the shot on so quickly. I was stunned when the ref even approached him, but figured it was too tell him to be careful. I just did not believe he could see a second yellow for that.

How does he run 50 yds to give RVP a second yellow, but do nothing when Abidal grabs RVP by the throat right in front of him..??

Who knows what happens if that last chance is fed into RVP instead of HRH..??

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